Calderdale Way...

Pendel Hill

No Dotterel but a great walk...a few Goldies on the top and a lot of people.......

Cragg Vale Coiners Walk

                                                      Not this route

                                                                   King Davids House

                                                 Broadhead Clough from Erringden moor

                                      Robin Hood Rocks the 'Long Tom'

                                                Heptonstall Church ,the final resting place of 'King David'

                                     The old Water Wheel at Cragg Vale

Fox and an Owl

Fox moth on the Hills and Puss Moth at home

So the moths that were flying around the other night were Fox Moths not Emperors as I first thought.I counted at least 25 which is the largest count in Yorkshire of adult Fox moths...Brown Silver lines and Orange Tips and Green veined Whites  loads of Swifts , Swallows and Sand Martins kicking around ....

Puss Moth a beauty  found on the wall next to the moth trap........

Evening out

Nice to see an Owl at last.....other birds about 185 large gulls east mainly Herrings but a few LBBGulls , 1 Curlew ,  3 Linnet  , 2 Displaying Snipe , 5 Swift , 6 Sand Martin , 4 Swallow , displaying Greenfinch , 10 + Emperor Moth (I think) and the odd Skylark..

Cricket Pitch and surrounds

With the grass being kept long the cricket pitch was pretty busy this morning although there was quite a frost...2 Mistle Thrush , 27 House Sparrow , 1 Dunnock , 5 Linnet , 1 Skylark , 2 Goldfinch , 36 Starling , 3 Blackbird , 3 Pied Wagtails and the bird of the morning a Meadow Pipit ...I managed to find 2 Whitethroat , 2 Blackcap , 1 Chiff and 3 Willow Warblers all in good voice .....Kestrel , Sparrowhawk and Buzzard briefly...... Late afternoon saw 10 + moving Swifts , whilst watching these through the scope a distant and very high large bird was picked up circling on thermals drifting in and out of the heat haze , it looked to have long trailing legs and as much in front as behind but too distant to be sure.......not picked up down the valley despite a few phone calls..!!

What a view

With crystal clear sky all around  these last few weeks I have been looking at the views from local high points, From Soil Hill its easy to see The White Horse at Kilburn , North Yorkshire , Pen y Gent , Inglebrough were stood out like sore thumbs and Great Whernside  was crystal clear . Today I could see Drax and Ferrybridge power stations and for the first time   even the top tower on the Humber Bridge from Queensbury .  Holme Moss to the south in Derbyshire , Castle Hill in Huddersfield and the two towers at Emily Moor...

                                                          3 Peaks and Great Whernside x 2

                                                                Emily Moor

                                                                 White Horse at Kilburn

White Horse at Kilburn

                                                      Drax

                                                Ferrybridge

                                                        Humber Bridge at 80 km

Last week of April.......

Fluked another Sandwich Tern on the 26th April  by counting every Gull that passes the house you sometimes get lucky ,,the Sarnie was at the back of 11 Herring Gull being mobbed by 2 Carrion Crows.

                             Jackdaws have been see collecting hair of the local cows...

Ned hill track the other day was a refreshing small walk , again Curlews and Lapwing can be herd most of the time.Orange Tip , Peacock and Small Torts , 4/5 Willow Warblers , Stonechat and Skylarks and Linnets a plenty....Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were both hunting around the farm....good to find 2 Willow Warbler , 1 Blackcap and 1 Whitethroat on territory...

Lepidoptera seen in the Garden so far this year , without the moth trap..

1.Orange Tip

2.Peacock

3.Comma

4.Small White
5 .Large White
6 .Green -veined White 

7.Small Tortoiseshell

8 ..Ruby Tiger

9 .Common Quaker

10 .Common Plume

11.Large Yellow Underwing (larval)

12.Brown House Moth
13 Speckled Wood

Sound of Silence

Its so calming when you go out of the house and you hear the calls of birds instead of traffic....The dawn chorus this morning was fantastic...Blackbirds everywhere , Robins , Chiffchaff , Willow Warbler , Dunnock , Wrens (blasting it out) , Goldfinch ,Blue , Great and Cole Tits ,  Song Thrush , Mistle Thrush , Green Woodpecker , Nuthatch , Great spot , Linnets , Chaffinch , Greenfinch (never herd as many for years)Skylark , Blackcap  all in the first hour in a short walk from the house...

Midgley Moor

So pleased to catch up with 3 Ring Ouzels today 2 females and 1 male , also 4 Blackbirds all males made things interesting,,2 Wheatear and plenty Swallows on the move...Emperor and loads of Green Hairstreaks made for a great trip out.....

SWIFT

Had my first Swift of the year today , few gulls on the move and a few Swallows and 2 Sand Martin.Linnets have been seen on the street feeding on Dandilions and a pair of Great Tits have been seen going in and out of one of my nest boxes......

Crazzzy

Today I was watching a Woodpigeon going back and forth to its nest site..at this moment I realised i had gone mad.....not a single thing has flown over the house for days except the odd group of Herring gulls no swallows House Martins nowt  and no Swifts yet...!!!
  I HAD TO LEAVE THE HOUSE AND HEADED FOR NED HILL TRACK.....The first bird I saw was a Wheatear  , 2 Meadow Pipit , 2 Pied Wags and 4 Linnets,,not bad......flushed 2 partridge which looked like Red legs but not 100%....Curlew and Snipe could be herd distantly and  2 herring Gulls flew overhead.... 4 Willow Warblers , 1 Greenfinch and a pair of Stonechat made for an enjoyable short walk......

A few from last night in Northowram

7th - 12th April 2020

I have been walking a lot in the Coley , Shibden  area this week , I have found at least 5/6 pairs of Nuthatch ,4 GS Woodpeckers , 9 Chiffchaffs , 4/5 pairs of Buzzards , 1 pair of Kestrel  , 2 Green Woodpeckers , 2 Sparrowhawks , as many as 6 Tawny Owl Territories , a few Linnets   but little else ....
  On the vis front it has been very ,very slow with a couple of highlights, a few flocks of Meadow Pipits the odd  Pied /alba wagtails , Swallows , Herring and LBBgulls , A female Shovler nearly got past me on the 7th nearly let it go as a female Mallard but got the scope on it the see its massive bill and yesterday a very high flying group of 7 terns were seen just about long enough to rule out common /artic and confirm as Sandwich ,which is pretty amazing......
Plenty  Small Tortoiseshell on Hedge top lane with five seen displaying at once and at least 20 + in the general area , Orange Tip , Small White , Peacock and Comma in smaller numbers..
   Autumn Green Carpet in the moth trap as the highlight this week and a Herald,,and the odd toad..

Swallow

First Swallow over the cricket pitch this morning about  average date here and another 2 a bit later on ..4 Chiffchaff singing and a few LBBgulls and herrings north this morning..More Swallows , House Martin ,Curlew and more gulls N/w between 5 -7...

4th Red Kite

I had another Red Kite today,  it was distant over Southowram drifting low along the ridge and then disappeared over towards Cromwell.. Its been a long time coming but 4 so far this year is a good sign. A small move of LBBGulls , a few 3rd winter Herrings and 4 Common Gulls north west. Another displaying Greenfinch..l

A wind of change

The wind turned from a wnw to wsw around lunch time and 3 Curlew flew north west just after lunch. All morning I had watched the local Sparrowhawks , Buzzards and Kestrels in full courtship displays talon grappling and stooping , circling together and even say the Kestrels copulate in mid air,,,The first local Chiffchaffs were belting it out and the last flock of 18 Redwing and 1 Fieldfare flew low north. Skylarks were singing as I walked up to Queensbury and Meadow Pipits poped out of fields and ditches. A stonking Adult Red Kite with brick red tail was seen flying up the valley from Northowram to Queensbury last seen over black dyke mill chimney( sorry Bri left the mobile at home dohhhh)....now where is the Swallow............................

Little Change

In the height of the gale today there was a pair of Kestrels in full display mode , above Chelsea Valley about an hour later these have been replaced by a pair of displaying Buzzards..3 Meadow Pipits , 1 LBBGull  north and the first pair of Pied Wagtails back on the cricket pitch...20 Starlings collecting nesting material.....

Slog

Well not a lot going on , few LBBgulls and herrings , 2 Snipe and a small flock of 19 Meadow Pipits all heading north today...loads of House Sparrows , Starlings and Goldfinch nest building and displaying Buzzards and Greenfinch..